What a Time to Be Alive
Plot Joe instantly held up his handgun whilst Matt shielded Darren in anticipation. However it was all for nothing. Out of the bushes stumbled a woman. She was stunning, even with twigs in her hair and mud on her face. Well, at least to Matt. Joe was too busy internally clocking her for wearing heeled boots during a zombie apocalypse. She fell to her knees, panting and crying. "They're all gone... gone, I can't believe..." She muttered. Joe knelt down to help her up. She was still in a state of shock but soon snapped out of it. "They're coming. THEY'RE COMING." She yelled, remembering why she was running through the woods in the first place. Out of the bushes stumbled a few of the dead things, Joe grabbed the girls' hand and ran up the path followed by Matt and Darren. Matt's running was limited due to his leg so he had to put Darren down so he could run faster. "Where are we going?" She asked. "Away from here." Joe responded. "Look!" Darren yelled. The four of them had ran to the top of a hill which overlooked the mall. But what they saw made them feel ill. Empty. A camp of sorts had been set up but now it was just infested with those things. "They've gone..." Matt remarked. "What now?" The sound of snarling behind them forced them to do one thing. Run. The hill was steep and wasn't safe to run down. But they did anyway. As it got steeper the four of them tripped and fell but were only left with bumps and scrapes. "Everyone okay?" Matt asked. They were about to reply when two of the things fell from the top of the hill and splattered on the ground, followed by more and more until it was practically raining. Most of them were still alive, though as the fall wasn't that steep. "Move!" Joe ordered, the group got up and ran forward away from the falling bodies, unfortunately the ones in the parking lot where the camp was had now heard them. "We need to get inside." Matt stated. "But it won't be safe." The woman questioned. "Look, anywhere is better than here." Joe said, "Majority rules." The four of them darted across the massive parking lot, diving behind cars and sneaking. Eventually Matt had to rest his leg so they took refuge in one of the big tents. ---- Meanwhile in the mall a group of survivors had made a blockade. On the third floor there was an area which was blocked off by various furniture and objects. It was pretty dumb of them as their entrance was their only exit. Two survivors sat around practically twiddling their thumbs, waiting. "They should be back by now." A blonde man scowled, he had a Policeman's uniform on but no gun, he was a rookie. There was a girl with him. She was pretty, but fear had taken over ever inch of her body. "T-they said they'd only be a short while..." She stuttered. "Fuck this shit." The cop roared. "Only a few days in and this shit happens? Then I'm left behind by those dick head army guys." He screamed and kicked objects around. "If you make noise, y-you're gonna attract more of them." She responded, clearly afraid of him. "I don't care. Let them. I'm ready for them." He replied. "Well Maya's not." A man said crossing over the barricade. He was followed by another girl who looked around the same age as Maya. "You're back!" Maya cheered. She ran over to the two and hugged the girl. The girl was Eliza, Maya's classmate from college. The man was Jeremy. A trainee doctor. Eliza broke her grip from Maya and took her place by the window whilst the other three spoke to each other. "What did you find out?" The blonde man asked. "TELL US." "Milo, calm down." Jeremy suggested. "We couldn't find anyone else except those things. But luckily the mall was closed today so most of them aren't in here. We managed to barricade the entrance, though." "Uh guys." Eliza said, ominously. "You'd better come here." The three of them scrambled over to the window. Eliza pointed out the scene that was happening. Across the parking lot they could see those things falling off the hill. "WAIT LOOK." Milo yelled, directly pointing to Joe, Matt, Darren, and the other girl running across the parking lot. "We need to help them." Jeremy said. Maya and Eliza agreed. "No way." Milo responded. "They have a kid. And we need to stick together." Jeremy replied, "We're doing it." "Didn't you just barricade the entrance though?" Milo said, he couldn't help but gloat at their stupidity. "Shit." Jeremy, Eliza, and Maya dashed downstairs as fast as they could. ---- "How are you feeling?" Joe asked. "I'll survive." Matt said using Joe's shoulder to boost himself to his feet. "Guys they're coming." The woman mentioned. "Matt. Joe!" Darren yelled. He was staring out one of the tent windows which faced the mall's entrance. "Look." He pointed towards the three people stood near the doors. "Let's go." Joe said, the woman took point, Joe followed with Darren and Matt in tow. As Maya, Jeremy, and Eliza hastily tried to remove the clutter Milo stood and watched them. "Hey let us in!" Matt yelled, banging on the window. "We're trying!" Eliza yelled back through the glass. "QUICKLY." The woman screamed. Darren was beginning to sniffle and act scared. Milo began to feel sorry for them. "There's a fast food place around the back." Milo shouted running over to them. "Run around the back, there's a door. We'll be waiting." Milo gestured for the three to follow him as the other group took off around the back. As Joe was now taking point he slashed through 4 of the things that got in their path. Meanwhile in the mall the group forgot that when the mall is shut food places usually stock up so the restaurant had a few lurking around. Jeremy and Eliza took care of them with small knives whilst Maya and Milo headed for the door, with one strong kick Milo burst the door, letting them in. All eight of them were now panting frantically. "Thanks." Joe panted. "I'm Joe, this is Matt, and this is Darren." "Aw an interracial couple and their illegitimate child." Eliza cooed. "Wrong." Matt said. "We only met a few hours ago. Darren isn't my child, he's... a friends." "Oh, sorry." Eliza embarrassingly giggled. "Who's this?" She said gesturing to the woman. "This is..., who are you again?" Joe asked. She laughed, "Oh my god I forgot to tell you my name." She giggled again. "It's Sydney." "Nice to meet you all." Jeremy said. "I'm Jeremy, that's Maya, Eliza and Milo." The group all exchanged pleasantries, except Milo who went back to his salty self instantly. "Okay, enough with the nicey-nice stuff." He coldly said. "What do you know?" "Nothing." Matt replied. "Would anyone like us know anything though?" Sydney asked. "We just need to stick together and set up some sort of camp." "Well we have something on the third floor." Eliza replied. Sydney thought for a while, "We can't stay here." There were murmurs of confusion among the group. "Why not?" Milo asked, "What makes you so knowledgeable?" "Common sense. This mall is massive, there's too many blind spots, if we had a lot more people then yeah, we could handle it. But right now we only have 8 people and one of them is only 11. We need to raid the place for supplies and leave as soon as. We can start a camp somewhere in the forest. Set up traps, keep it safe until we can make a proper decision." She explained. Everyone was pretty much on board. The group went to leave the restaurant when Matt fell to the floor in agony. "What's wrong with him?" Jeremy asked, flying to his side. Jeremy inspected his leg thoroughly. "Please tell me you're a doctor." Matt asked as his leg was strangely groped. "Trainee." Jeremy laughed in response. "Luckily, it doesn't look like you've damaged it massively. It's just bruised and the more you're on it, the more it's gonna get worse. So no more walking for now." Matt was surprised to realise Jeremy can lift him. Joe couldn't help but notice Jeremy's arms double in size when he lifted Matt. He walked off with Darren, Eliza, Maya, and Milo following. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sydney asked Joe, referring to the arms. "Yep." The two followed on. As they approached their small base area Milo couldn't help but ask what was in Joe's bag. "Ammo, guns, a few supplies." Joe answered. "A friend gave them to us." Darren put his head down and felt a twinge. He missed his parents. He missed his Uncle. As grateful as he was to Matt and Joe he couldn't help but feel lonely. "Okay, so, say we do get all of the supplies together. How do we get all of it, and us, away from here?" Milo asked. "There's an RV showroom just 30 minutes down the road. Some of us go there and we take one." Sydney replied. "You still have your cruiser right?" Milo stammered. "Well? You're a rookie so you must have access to one in the parking lot since you would have had a partner upon arriving?" Sydney asked. "Yeah, but it was surrounded when we arrived, I had to bail out and run." Milo explained. "That's not a problem. We can deal with that." Sydney continued, "Myself, you, Eliza and Maya will take the car down there. Get the RV and three of us will drive that up whilst someone drives the cruiser up here." Sydney smiled. "It's simple." "But for now..." Joe said, "Try and get some rest. It's like 9pm." The group agreed. Eliza went and slept facing the window with Maya near her. Matt was laid against a wall with Darren clutching him tightly. Sydney was resting close to him. Milo isolated himself and fell asleep near the barricade. "Wanna take a walk?" Jeremy asked Joe who was just sat, unable to sleep. Joe nodded and the two left. "We should start collecting supplies now." Joe suggested as they entered a sports shop. "Duffel bags for all." He laughed as he threw about eight of them at Jeremy. The two walked passed the mall's all window wall which let the moonlight shine onto the floor. It was beautiful. If it wasn't for the slobbering things at the window it would have been perfect. "You know I've always wanted to be in a mall unsupervised and be able to take what I wanted." Jeremy laughed. "You and the rest of the world." Joe replied. Jeremy laughed again and began swirling around in the middle of the moonlight lit floor. "What a time to be alive." He joked. "Hey, Cinderella, if you're done twirling, we should probably raid this chemist." Joe suggested. Jeremy agreed and together the two took everything possible; pills, inhalers, toothpaste, cologne. "We filled up 3 bags just from that." Joe laughed. "You know, you're unusually upbeat for someone trapped in the apocalypse." Jeremy noted. "Well, what else is there to do." Joe replied ---- "Happy anniversary!" A young man said holding a tray of eggs and toast, decorated with a rose and a glass of orange juice. "Happy anniversary." Joe replied. The other man leaned in for a kiss. "No kissing, I haven't brushed my teeth." "Shut up." The other man giggled and attempted anyway. "Devon, no, I taste gross." "You didn't last night." Devon joked. "Okay wow, not that kind of language first thing on a morning." Joe laughed. Devon got up and began getting dressed. Joe put the tray aside and went into their en suite and began his morning routine. "I've got the reservation for 8. So knowing you, get home for 3 and start getting ready and we might just make it." Devon teased. Joe poked his head out of the bathroom, his mouth covered in foamy toothpaste, and gave him a look. "You might have to change it to 9:30, it depends on how it goes today." Joe replied. "Oh." Devon said, "Yeah I'll just ring and change it then." He smiled. "Well, I've gotta go, so I'll see you later." Devon said, but not before Joe grabbed his face and gave him a long kiss that made Devon want to go to work late. "Fresh breath." Joe laughed as he sent Devon on his way. ---- Joe sighed, "That was the last time I saw him." He checked his phone. 9:31pm "Shock, I'm late again." He laughed, but this time a few tears escaped him. "Oh don't cry. I'm sure he's fine." Jeremy said, the snarling outside got louder. "Even they know that's a crock of shit." Joe smirked. "Come on, we might as well try and get some sleep." Joe suggested, but suddenly a big flash of light interrupted them. The two stared at each other until Jeremy suggested the roof. The two of them ran up there as fast as they could and in the distance was Atlanta, it was being bombed. "Oh my god. This thing is real... It's actually real. I-I..." Joe stuttered. "We'll be fine." Jeremy said, both were staring out towards the explosion, practically unable to move. What did this mean? Was the world really over? FIN